Ox Notes: April 22, 2008

All of the reports from backstage at last night's Dancing with the Stars focus on the same thing: Shannon Elizabeth & Derek Hough's "showmance." TV Guide and OK! have articles devoted specifically to the topic. The OK! piece also mentions that the sheet Karina Smirnoff wore in her Rumba with Mario was detachable, but they elected to keep it in place to tone down the raunch.

Tony Dovolani gave the definitive statement on the showmance to Entertainment Tonight. When guest interviewer Helio Castroneves presented him with a copy of the photo of Shannon & Derek locking lips, Tony clarified, "He's telling her something in her mouth."

Access Hollywood's interview video reveals just how garishly made-up the women were for the group dance number. Somehow, the make-up department defied all laws of nature and managed to make Edyta Sliwinska look less-than-beautiful. All the more reason to give tonight's encore to Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas for their Jive.

Other DwtS links of note are People's What You Didn't See article, Kristi Yamaguchi's blog post about her perfect score, TV Guide's interview with Bruno Tonioli about Paula Abdul possibly competing on the show, and the latest Yahoo! Buzz Session, in which Joey Lawrence calls Jason Taylor "overrated."

The D-list cast members for NBC's Celebrity Circus and VH1's Celebracadabra! have been announced, and I now officially have no interest in either show.

If, like me, you fret about the lack of intellectually stimulating fare on TV, this will really chap your hide: NBC ousted an Emmy-winning writer from the upcoming series The Philanthropist because he wanted to deal with serious issues, and the network wanted something more "escapist" in nature. At least now we know that NBC thinks its viewers are a bunch of dolts.